president obama sold chrysler to italians that are going to build jeeps in china. a lot of push back from the obama campaign. the ad was dismissed by our last guest. i want to get your thoughts. guest: chrysler has admitted they will be opening a plant in china and they will be manufacturing and jeeps in italy and will be shipping to china. why are not shipping them out of ohio? i think that is the issue that governor romney was attempting to promote. the fact of the matters we have a substantial loss of manufacturing jobs in ohio

between 2008-to dollars and 11. we have not recovered some of those jobs. -- we have had its intention loss of manufacturing jobs between 2008-2011. to say chrysler will not be producing in china is incorrect. they have admitted they are in the process of opening a plant there right now. host: do you say governor romney could have done better in how he presented at ad? vice-president biden called it "flagrantly dishonest" and said they're trying to scare the living double out of the people who had been hurt so badly over the previous four years before we came into office. guest: look, and not going to get into individual ads in television. if you have lived in ohio in the past six months, you have been

bombarded. it is one thing the average person will talk to you out on the streets, the negativity of many of the ads and the accuracy of many of them. i know "the washington post" said it was not "pants on fire." there was some accuracy. i will just leave it at that. woodstock host:, georgia, republican line. -- host: woodstock, georgia. you are on with mr. bennett. caller: i am pleased to have this opportunity to say things. i hope the ground game of the republicans in ohio, that the people are telling the people there to do their research before they pull that lever.

they do not go to the doctor just once in awhile but they go quite frequently. when a doctor says to you, instead of having a nice day, stay healthy, because i may not be able to take care of you, that's important to raise senior citizen. some of the other things, education, a lot of things that are being battered around, people need to really dig and find out what the educational programs are all about. it is more money, more money, all for the unions. if there were better things going on in the schools that the parents could see instead of being pushed aside because the government wants to take over the children and not let the parents have anything to say. there are also other subjects for the middle class. host: i will give mr. bennett a

chance to respond. guest: i think all voters should have an opportunity to look behind the ad than delving into the research on the individual candidates. if they would, i think they would come out knowing that this country needs a change in direction in this country needs somebody who's going to create the number of jobs necessary. i think it gov. mitt romney has that program. his commitment to produce 12 million jobs over the next four years is the way this country needs to do it. also, take regulation out of the small business communities so that our small businessmen, the real job creators, know what's going to happen over the next four years. these are the tears of are necessary. if you look at ohio with a governor kasich who inherited a rainy day fund with 83 cents in

it, the state was $8 billion in debt. he was able to balance the budget, put $400 million into the rainy day fund and the same time reduce taxes. that has been the biggest job creator in ohio that we have seen a in the nation. i think these programs do work. i think the governors are leading the change efforts in this country and have to continue to do that. the federal government has been an impediment regulations in the have prohibited them from trading jobs that are necessary in this country to push our economy and to also improve the economy over where it has been over the last four years. host: we have been talking about the jobs numbers that are coming

out today. here are the october numbers. 7.9%, slightly up from 7.8% from september. in issuing 171,000 jobs added in october. this is according to the u.s. bureau of labor statistics this morning. i want to get your quick reaction to those numbers. guest: first of all, that is virtually no change. yes, it is an uptick and it was a down tick the month before, and but unemployment is basically staying around 8%. if you count the people who have given up looking for jobs in this country, we have over 20 million people who are unemployed right now. those are the people that we have to address, there needs, their concerns, and make sure they have a job.

by producing 12 million jobs, a lot of these people will be put back to work. if we continue the policies of the last four years, i'm afraid we're going to see the next no. for unemployment is going to be 8%-- next norm will be around 8% and around that 20 million figure. i think we can do a lot better and governor romney certainly have the program to do that. in ohio, we have proven that it can be done. host: judas on the democratic line from ohio, you are on with mr. bennett. -- judith on the democratic line. caller: i am maybe 5 miles from there. i have two sons who have graduated from private colleges

and that they cannot find jobs in their field. they graduated from college in like 2002 and my other son graduated in 2001 from american university. they are unable to find jobs. they want to raise the retirement age again to 72 or something. i retired. i am a retired nurse. i personally do not understand why we keep raising the retirement age for elderly people who really need to enjoy their retirement, okay? host: mr. bennett.

guest: judith brings up two good points. 50% of graduates right now are unable to find jobs in the field have chosen to study. we think that just borders on criminal after they have made that investment. in many cases, they have had to borrow substantial sums of money to complete their college education and they expect to find a job when they get out of college and we know the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is now 50%. i have a great deal of sympathy for judith and the fact that she has two sons were both college graduates and are unable to find employment in their chosen field. the second thing that she brings want to raiseople w the retirement age is because they have insufficient funds and they feel the need to continue to work.

research and development in the medical field continues to improve and extend the life expectancy. our current system of social security and so forth will not provide sufficient funds to take care of these people for their extend the life span. in many cases, they have moved up the retirement age. they choose to continue to work beyond the normal retirement age of 65. i think she brings of two very good point here. i'm very sympathetic to the that that her sons have not been able to find jobs, but i think what we need to do -- [no audio] host: will come back to mr. bennett in a little bit there. we are losing the signal there. i want to give you some more info from the jobs report that has come out. the unemployment rate, 7.9%, and

the number of unemployed, 12.3 million, both essentially an unchanged according to the bureau of labor and statistics. among the major worker groups, -- ofll go back to mr. bennett the ohio republican party. we have been talking about the auto industry in ohio. the question on twitter. guest: first of all, there are two types of bankruptcy. one is where they liquidated and that would be devastating. that is not what governor

romney ever participated in advocating all. what governor romney was advocating was that we should have vanished richard bankruptcy and we should have had guarantees by the federal government. that would have even the playing field for everyone including many who had their pensions wiped out because the government pick-and choose the winners and losers. look at ford. they never had to take any bailout money and they continue to have a great profits and they continue to restructure. if we have followed governor romney's recommendation, we would have a government guarantees and restructuring within the bankruptcy law so that the automobile and a tree

would have looked exactly the way it does today. it would have been ill even better shape -- it would have been in even better shape than it is today. no one can advocate that because we will never know. the fact of the matter is the government had a $50 million investment in general motors in stock still today. for the government to ever recover that money, the stock price is going to have to go up between $55-$60 and that will probably not happen in my lifetime or yours. host: of the republican line from missouri. danny is waiting to talk with bob bennett. go ahead. caller: i have some facts and figures for the american people. people seem to forget what has happened in the past.

obama claims the democrats took control in january 22nd, 2009. they took control january 3rd, 2007. it was the first time since 1995 have control of both houses. under the bush economy, the gdp was 4.5% and we had 52 straight months of job growth. i'm tired of all, claiming that he has inherited such a bad economy from the bush era, blaming everything on the republicans. barney frank was the head of the house financial committee and chris dodd was the head of the senate banking committee. they had their friends in freddie mae and fannie mac. bush went to congress and asked them 17 times to stopping denny and freddie from making these

loans because they were financially risky for america. host: i will let you jump in here. guest: fannie mae and freddie was caused by the housing bubble and that was done a great disservice by the congress in encouraging lending to those individuals who did not have a sufficient down payment or the wherewithal to guarantee that they would be able to pay back their mortgage loans. that certainly created a housing bubble [no audio] that did start at the end of the bush administration. certainly, we are now four years past the start of the obama administration, and i think we have had sufficient time to

address the concerns. the fact of the matter is the economy has not improved to the degree we have averaged 8% over and the entire term of president obama's tenure in office. good continue to look for change that will create those jobs and get this economy moving again while also addressing the tremendous debt that this country has. $16 trillion in debt increased over $5 trillion under president obama. if we have another four years of obama, the national debt will exceed $20 trillion. this is a horrible thing to give to our children, our grandchildren and great- grandchildren. we just cannot keep going with these tax policies. host: one last call for you on the independent line from michigan. victoria, you are wrong with mr.

bennett of the ohio republican party. caller: i wanted to make a clarification for a caller that called in earlier that had a question about the interpretation that republicans are against unions. and not being made clear enough, i feel, to our voters that there is a a giant difference between a private-sector union and a government tax funded union. in the private sector, the union leaders and the workers are able to negotiate, very appropriate. in the government-funded unions, they take the dues from the workers and they support the elected officials that they are interested in getting into office. and then the union leaders negotiate with those elected officials that are then paid for

with tax funded dollars. i do not feel like there is a huge difference that people as lenders -- and people are not understanding this. host: i will give you the last word in this segment tier on "washington journal." guest: gwen is correct. jfk was opposed to public unions but also eleanor roosevelt was. in a real sense, we are negotiating with ourselves. we have been very successful in ohio in getting the public message across to union members. we consistently receive 40% of the union vote in ohio. i am very proud of that. that is a message that the

private sector unions understand it. if the economy is growing and jobs are increasing, their lives are better off. that is why i think we will get a substantial union vote this election because they won the economy to grow again. she is right on private employee unions. they far exceed the benefits and costs ratio than what is available in the private sector and that is really driving many of the voters right now to make changes in collective bargaining. host: bob bennett, ohio party republican chairman. up next, an ohio congressman tim ryan discussing the role i will have in shaping the outcome of

this election. to later, sudeep reddy discuss the latest job numbers. >> these are the stories are textbooks left out, great stories about people in american history. very important moments that we don't know about. the first children -- the first pilgrims came over, they were french and had the good sense to land in florida in june and they were wiped out by the spanish, but that story is left out of the textbooks. the most famous woman in america was taken captive by the indians in 1685 and in the middle of the night she killed her captor. she realized she could get a bounty for indian scalps and she made her way to boston where she was a heroine.

they erected a statue to hurt. -- to her. >> kenneth davis on "in depth." he is the best-selling author of the "don't know much" series. >> i have watched shows on the weekends of an interview politicians when they talk about what they're doing in conagra's, they're different opinions. it >> i wanted to see that and i know it was on c-span. nothe drill down and it's antagonistic or hostile. they do not have an agenda like they do what other cable television shows.

>> i agree. it seems fair. yet the real story. there is not a commentary or things that are negative. >> i go there to get the news, the facts than just talking points. i want to learn something, not just be entertained. >> not as exciting as cnn or fox, but you get the real stories. >> darryl and mary watched c- span on comcast. c-span, created by america's cable companies in 1979 and brought to you as a public service by your television provider. host: we are joined now via skype by democratic congressman tim ryan, a member of the house budget committee. thank you for coming on. i want to get your reaction to

the october unemployment numbers that just came out. 7.9% unemployment rate, 171,000 jobs added. your take on what these numbers mean in the near future and long term? guest: their solid numbers when you think about where we are coming from, especially in ohio to have these numbers consistently moving in the right direction. it's very positive. now, with the election season here, who is going to be able to get this economy going even faster? there is a jobs bill in the congress right now and speaker john boehner will not bring it up for a vote. that would add another one or two million jobs and getting them back to work with roads, infrastructure, teachers, police, and fire. these are solid numbers, but we've got more to do. we have to make sure we have a president that will be able to

get the job done for us. host: four days from the election and using the numbers are solid. how do you say they will play out and other key indicators are you watching going into tuesday? guest: we are seeing a lot of improvements in ohio. one in eight jobs here is directly or indirectly related to the audio industry. we see some key changes in the supply chain for the autumn industry which has had a huge benefit. that is in the short term. the president put a tariff on chinese steel which led to a $1 billion investment in a new steel factory in youngstown, ohio, and it is all due to the president's policies. there are some good feelings about how this is going. we all know we have a long way to go. who was going to move us forward? who is going to make the investment in new energy input

-- the new energy economy? we have a lot of universities here in ohio and we can be a huge part of restructuring the new economy, but we have to make sure we do not have a bunch of ideologues in the political realm. the need to realize investments in basic technology and research can lead to economic development. an optimistic. politically, we have a great care around -- a great groudn game. i have 13-14 obama offices in my district alone. we have a huge weekend ahead of us are getting out the vote. a very mobilized and energized based. bill clinton has been here several times, joe biden, the president, etc. we will get the job done in the next few days. host: we're talking with democratic congressman tim ryan from ohio. if you want to ask him about the

race in ohio or budget committee questions, the numbers are on your screen. we still have the line open for ohio residents. 202-585-3883. a couple of comments on twitter about the jobs numbers. another comment from james. your thoughts on those comments stocks -- on those comments? guest: know what is going does say they are satisfied and we should just quit doing what we are doing.

who is able to take us from where we work, a whole that was dug with some ideological policies, blow a hole in the budget deficit, and the economy collapses? i would like to ask those people. if these policies were so great, why did they not work in the last 10 years? i realize we have a lot more and permission in our society today, but it was not that long ago -- there is a lot more information in our society today. the president has dug us out of that hole and has as moving in the right direction. there is a jobs bill that any economist who is being objective about it says will create over 1 million new jobs. gives some money to the roads and bridges projects that we need done and make sure local governments are not laying off police, fire, and teachers. let's move the economy forward

and create jobs, making investments into the new energy sector, investments in research and development to create the jobs of the future so that places like ohio can keep going with exactly what it is that we have been doing and build on the auto industry, the steel industry, and get into these new industries. we are heading a roadblock because, quite frankly, there is an ideological brick in the congress right now. they do not believe these are necessary and/or helpful. it's easy to belabor old -- blame obama, but think about where we are a few short years ago and where we are today, it's just amazing. are we satisfied? no. can we build on what we have? yes. the man to get the job done is obama. host: another comment on

twittery in with you. -- agreeing with you. the ohio line is open and we're going to brookville, ohio, the democratic line. you are on with congressman ryan. caller: i help i can make a point that people will listen to. my husband works for a directory in montgomery county, ohio, for a very large international company that are shipping jobs to china. they are shutting down lines here and moving to china. the use temporary workers -- hello? they used every workers and they refused to hire people. my husband has been with this company for over 40 years and they do not seem to care that people need jobs in ohio. his hands are tied. everyone's hands are tied.

they're being told by corporate headquarters. i do not understand why people think someone like mitt romney is going to come in and do this any different than the way things are being done at my i will give you a chance to talk to marie. unfortunately her story is a story we of heard in northeast ohio for a long time. and that is that we lost a lot of jobs to china. my cousin donney, one of his businesses he worked for -- there is a machine on a factory floor, and it was shipped to china. that is what people in ohio are dealing with. that is why the president i think will win ohio. they see that mitt romney has made a living, a good living off of outsourcing and offshore in

the jobs for companies and -- in places like ohio. they are very concerned that he is not the person that we want in the levers of power in washington, d.c. to make that even easier. unfortunately, that story is not unique to our state. who is going to the president of united states that is like to start creating the jobs of the future so that young people and middle aged people who lost their jobs have an opportunity to get a good paying jobs back. and i say this because president obama already has a record. look at the auto industry. but the supply chain, people working in places like commercial logistics. these are good middle-class jobs that the president stuck his neck out and saved.

look of the steel mill being built in youngstown, ohio. than one building trade person that has said to me and others that they will be able to put their kids through college because of the money that they made building this particular project. these are the products of president obama. are we home yet? we are not. we have a long way to go. but he has a good track record. he is on their team and he is implementing policies that will help people like her and families like mine in my district. the next question is, how we take this to the next question? obama has a plan to do that with technology, research and development. host: we are speaking tim ryan, from the youngstown area of ohio. mike from houston, texas on our line for republicans.

caller: good morning. i grew up in ohio. i have family there for 50 years. my concern here congressman is that, i look at the democrats and i see a party -- i see in houston, have been here 20 years come in houston in 1985, if the federal government did not bail out houston -- houston is the home to many californians. texas was not built for this, but now houston is the home to the largest medical center. it is growing faster than any city in the united states. it is not a command and control economy.

no state income tax. look at california. there lost 350,000 people to texas alone. texas is growing. california is a disaster. host: i will give you a chance to jump in. guest: it is difficult to compare. is great to hear somebody from our own area doing well down in texas. i appreciate his call. i think it is difficult to try to make a comparison -- comparison between the oral industry, versus the auto industry. i think it is a difficult comparison. but the auto restructuring package has worked. and it is benefiting hubbard, ohio.

and the position on chinese steel that the president has taken that has benefited people in that area of -- i would take issue with the lack of him making the argument that there's a lack of a federal resources about of gone into taxes. nasa has made huge investments into texas. many businesses and texas' benefit from investments in the united states military. throughout the entire state of texas. i think if you look at many of the universities in texas, they get a vote load of money from the research and development money that comes from nih, the national science foundation. i would take issue with the fact that the republic of texas is making it all on their own they are getting substantial benefits from federal research and development dollars. which is fine. i have no problem with that at

all. ilt to benefit from the oriole history and such a profound way, we do not have that everywhere. but they do benefit from nasa and the national institute of health. and that is helped to spur their economy as well. host: a question on twitter -- why did obama not stick his neck out for the non-union workers who lost their pensions and the auto bailout. guest: that is an urban legend. we are working very hard to help the delphi unions and other unions that did not end up doing as well as the uaw, iucwa to the development of the new general motors. but, this is not a union, non- union issue.

there were seven or eight different unions that did not make out as well as other unions had. so there are many salaried people, delphi salaried folks that say this is the president picking the unions over the salaried people. that is not true. there are other unions that did not make out. it was a bankruptcy. it was a top difficult decision. to my friends that bring up this issue, is not true. we have a bill that will help the delphi salary, and the other splinter unions. we cannot get the ear of the republicans and house of representatives. i would like to see speaker banner bring this up in a lame duck session to be able to help the delphi folks and the other union members. it is pure fallacy to say that the president picked certain unions over salaried folks.

there were people hurt on both sides, both union and management here it was a bankruptcy. was tough all around. host: you brought up bennett. real clear politics ranks that race as a toss up. had you see that race playing out? guest: brown is a great senator, he is working on behalf of the people. the things i mentioned about president obama, the auto restructuring package from the terrace on the chinese products coming and. shared ground was leading the way. it was unbelievable -- shared ground opponent's says he was against the auto restructuring package. and that is an unbelievable position to take. the latest poll i saw had him up about eight or nine points. i think people when.

is a great ground game, too. is one of the hardest working senators. his opponent said he votethe auo bailout was unamerican. host: jim on our ohio line. caller: i drive a jeep. i am a supporter of senator brown and our president. and i met you at a rally last year. and i was very sorry that of course. john, who i think you know pretty well, is no longer serving us. but i hope you will be back. i am -- in line with that, the

redistricting issue, i wish she would speak a little bit to the pathology of how these districts are being gerrymandered and issued to an ohio. good luck to you. guest: i am supporting issue two. a citizen panel to redraw the congressional districts and the legislative districts. host: that is on the ballot as well? guest: it is. it takes the pen out of the hands of politicians, both democrats and republicans. so we can get districts that are inclusive of entire communities and other things to make sure we do not have a district that starts in northeastern ohio and goes all the way down to south central ohio. and includes -- it is basically

drawn as a republican district, republicans controlled the pen, and redrew districts that benefit it americans. and to think there are that many more democrats more than republicans, but republicans have a significant advantage in their congressional representation, most people see that as unfair. what is get them out of this. was but a citizen panel to draw up new districts. everyone that comes to d.c. is not really a democrat or republican, there will be more inclined to compromise and get some things done, as opposed to get things done for their own party. host: christian on the democratic line is next with congressman tim ryan. go ahead. caller: a couple things to say.

if you do not cut me off. a lot of republicans a president obama --president obama cannot change the color of his stand. from day one, before this man passed any laws, he cannot and said this was a onetime president. -- he came out and said this would be a one time president. bush sent our boys to war without the proper body armor. we had to send our boys the proper body armor. rhumb spelled said you go to war with the army that you have. what about the war that all of our boys died in a question mark is a shame when it comes to abortion also. -- what about the war that all of our boys died and a? it is a shame when it comes to

abortion, also. last thing, when it comes to your religious doctrine, billy graham's four years has said that mormonism is a cult. all of these evangelicals that now all of a sudden, mormonism is not a cult, you guys need to get down on your knees. all of a sudden did it got to come to a kg and said i had been thinking about it, and now mormonism is not a cult. host: a lot of issues to choose from. if you want to talk about how they are playing in ohio. today he draws the contrast pretty well on some of those issues. you know, the republicans i think are just tripping over themselves trying to find something to pann on obama. the reason they cannot do it is because they are in some way connected to making matters worse. the whole idea of benghazi and making sure that we have enough

troops on the ground -- it sounds good until you realize that it was paul ryan and the ideological republican tea party caucus that tried to cut that budget by $300 million so that the president and joe biden did not have enough money to provide security. you get caught up in these things. they get amnesia or romnesia when the talk about the foreign policy. the four get to that it was president bush that got us into the worst foreign-policy debacle. we will be digging ourselves of the hole in iraq for a long time because of failed intelligence and a variety of other things. they remind me of the sports announcer. you watched the beginning of a football game. this analyst says this team is going to win for sure.

this will be a blowout. and the game is over and they are wrong, and they do not even mention that there were wrong or made all these bad predictions. that is who they remind me of. you guys cost three-quarters of these problems and then you turn around and try to climb obama. but the american people are smart. they pay attention when the time is right. that is why you see obama doing well in places like ohio. host: we are being joined by tim ryan from the youngstown area. we will go to john on the republican line. caller: good morning. i am calling to ask you if you are familiar with the ballots that are, they are having trouble with them switching over when they are voting for mitt romney, and at the end come a check mark is that over on the democratic side? are you familiar with them?

there has been a couple of programs of it. and one of them is right here in columbus, ohio. where they have had a few. i will not say a gaggle of them, but quite a few. and then i heard you earlier on the dollar fight workers, that you and senator brown -- on the delphi workers. you were interviewing the delphi workers. they say they have no pension are not getting any pension. this spin sounds like it is coming from you there a little bit. host: tim ryan? guest: it is a tough situation with the delphi salary folks. we have been working on it along time. my former coach's and family members who were in that group -- i am not here to spend

anything, i am here to help them. it was a bankruptcy, a tough deal. but most of those pensions have gone to the pbgc. where they are getting pension money. they may not be getting all of their pension money, but they -- some are getting all. most are betting almost all. we do not have those exact numbers, but we want to find those. they are getting -- that does not diminish the suffering of these families. the economic impact it is having an our community. this is not a political football to score political points. these are people and families and my district that have worked hard for a long time. and we will go to the wall for them. host: any other political issues? guest: not any specific issues like that other than the

secretary of state tried to disenfranchise people and try to limit early voting. you can imagine, 2012 and the secretary of state has gone completely out of his way to try to limit the number and the hours eligible or available for people to be able to go and vote. you literally tried to get rid of voting the weekend before the election. it has been a huge benefit for working-class families to be able to have a month to go and vote, because they are a single mom with two kids in soccer practice and gymnastics and these other things. working sometimes two jobs. other than the secretary of state, the courts have come in and restricted his ability to try to limit voting. we have been doing really well. the early vote numbers are up, over the 2008 numbers. so, we are moving into the right direction. is attributed to the obama and

shared ground game we have in place. host: on our line for independents. you are on. caller: good morning . i have been falling recently. i hope you stay true to the politics and not get sucked up into the corruption of the political atmosphere. but i do really appreciated it to product two points. the mess we were in from 2000 on. americans have a tendency to say, i do not like the way that was i want to fix it. we want to talk about 200 years ago, but not 10 years ago. sted.ther issue of mr. hu sai and that goes to the core of who we are. that starts to happen, we are in trouble. and being a veteran and retired state policeman from california, i cannot trust people to say, i will take care of everything. we have to make things happen

thingsthan makelet happen. what do you think? to good point. is out redistricting that the secretary of state -- ohio happens to be the swing state, they would actually try to limit the availability for people to go and cast their franchise. to me, that is completely outrageous. unfortunately, they did not get away with it. but it does bring you a certain amount of concern that, what are they going to do after the election? there has been comments that they may do this. to try to limit people's access to the ballot. it does not make any sense. i do not think it is fair. the more we can shed some light on this, the real partisan edge that this has, the better off we

will be. host: that will wrap up our focus on the swing state of ohio. thank you so much for joining us via skype. up next, wall street journal reporter, sudeep reddy. we will be discussing the latest jobs numbers that just came out this morning. ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪ >> first and foremost, we have to create an environment that are small witnesses can thrive.

when we look at the uniqueness on the border that is different from the tax reform needed for the whole nation, with a comprehensive and immigration reform. as a trouble the border and i meet with the ranchers, we have a workforce problem because our immigration system is broken. we cannot get workers to go back and forth. these problems create an impediment to commerce. we have got to be able to provide a workforce that can move back and forth easily. right now, we are not able to do that because of all of the impediments that now, we are noo that because of all of the impediments that are there by not having an -- and effective immigration policy. that becomes an economic issue as well. >> some of these issues have to deal with the issue raised here with regard to being near the witnesses can thrive. when we look at the uniqueness on the border that is different from the tax reform neededborde. seasonal work that comes on, and being as susceptible to national trends when it comes to unemployment and the economy, we need something is desperately here and yuma, a commuter plan that will make it easier for an immigrant to come across during the daytime and go back at night. that is not easily allow in our system. one thing we have got to avoid is a sequestration that is looming at the end of the year.

that will hurt first and foremost our military readiness. but for an area like yuma, it relies heavily on the defense industry, it would be devastating. >> watched more key debates on line, any time, and throughout the day saturday on c-span, starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. >> it is just a few minutes ago, i called president bush and congratulated him on his victory. and i know i speak for all of you and all of the american people when i say that he will be our president and he will work -- and we will work with him. we must work together. >> i just received a telephone call from gov. dukakis. [applause] and i want you to know, he was most gracious, his call was

personal, it was genuinely friendly. and it was in the great tradition of american politics. [applause] >> of this weekend on c-span 3 american history tv, 20 years of presidential victory and concession speeches. what sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern and pacific. >> "washington journal" continues. host: as we reported earlier, october's job numbers were released this morning. to help interpret what they mean for the election and the economy, we turn to "wall street journal" economics correspondent, sudeep reddy. we saw the numbers. 7.9% unemployment rate. 171,000 jobs added in october. what is the headline? guest: deliver market is showing continued steady improvement. is not great. -- the labor market is showing a

continued steady improvement. it is not great. when you look at the trend, and the trend is what matters rather than the single month, the trend shows that throughout 2012, the first 10 months, the economy has added about 157,000 jobs per month. that is roughly in line with 853,000 that were added per month and 2011. -- 153,000 that your added per month in 2011. so, we have seen a marked improvement. but the labor market needs to see about 153,000 that your addr 100,000 to 200,000 jobs just to keep the unemployment rate steady. we are just above that, and it is clearly not enough to have a meaningful long-term improvement in the labor market. host: the jobs numbers that just

came out. give us a call. the democratic line is -- 202- 585-3880. republican line -- 202-585- 3881. independent -- 202-585-3883882. the washington post says this is the 46 jobs report. what does this mean heading into tuesday? guest: it means he can continue to make his assertion that the economy has improved steadily, even though it has been slowly. almost everyone in the obama and a station would admit privately that this recovery has been somewhat disappointing. they would have wanted to see stronger job growth. and what we are seeing though is a slow climb out of the very, very deep downturn at we saw and 2008, 2009. 4 president obama, his message will be stay with me and we will

stay the course with continued steady improvement. the presidential challenger will of course be saying that this slow improvement is not appropriate. we should have a much faster pickup in the labor market. he will be making the argument that if not for president obama's policy, we would of had a faster improvement in the economy in the labor market. he is promising would have a much faster improvement if he was president. guest: on twitter -- the jobs number is a rebel and. was never granted the problem for president obama unless it hit 8%. do you agree? was that keeping that a number under 8% politically important? guest: i think we have moved on from this figure. there's a lot of talk about this because both parties have been arguing about whether 8% was an important matter for the unemployment rate and said that

under president obama the jobless rate had stayed under 8% for almost three years. one cannot under 8% in last month's report, it seemed to have eliminated a lot of the chatter. it is not really matter that much whether it is 7.9% or 8%. the bottom line -- nickelback the recovery in the labor market has been a disappointing. the bottom line is that the recovery in the labor market has been disappointing. when you get into the specifics of the numbers, there's so much variability when you start picking at a single month's number. you should really look beyond it and look at the trends. host: on twitter -- is a unemployment rate is misleading indicator? should we focus on other

numbers? guest: people have dropped out of the labor market. and they are not counted in the standard measure of the unemployment rate. people have chosen to go to school. and they are no longer looking for work. that would not count. so it is important to look at the unemployment rate. it counts the number of people that are actively looking for work. when you have such an incredible problem right now, 4.3 million people unemployed, and a number of long-term unemployed is 5 million people. that means 5 million people have been out of work for six months or more. that is 40% of all unemployed people. there are broader measures you can look at their actually meaningful. if you are to take the broadest measure of what we called labor underutilization, it is substantially higher. is around 14%, 15%. that shows that there are, even beyond the official unemployed,

there are a lot more people that are out there struggling, looking for work, taking part- time work. host: we are taking more questions and comments on the numbers released this morning. we will go first to david on our line for democrats, north carolina. caller: good morning. i would like to know how the republican party got known for being job creators when the facts are more jobs have been created in this country under democratic administrations? guest: that is a good question. i think the issue is who speaks to the issues of the job creators out there. that is what both parties are vying for. if you look back at the dinner of the last 50 years, more jobs have been created under

democratic presidents and under republican presidents. if you were to look back in the 1990's, you would see a huge boom in the job creation under president clinton. partly because he came out of -- he came president out of a recession. and had either the good fortune of overseeing the internet boom. and that created a lot of jobs, a lot of those were lost, some were lost after president clinton left office in 2001. people who look at this, and when you are trying to assess which party would be better for job creation, everyone has are on a measure. people will look at the republican party and say, that lower taxes might be better for business. and lower regulation might be better for business. and with the -- with the democratic party has tried to do is try to make the argument that

an improving economy for people across the income spectrum is the way to improve the fortunes for everyone across the economy. host: on our line for republicans, sam, you are on. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: good. guest: good. caller: it is sad that it is just maintaining. we need to hundred 50,000 jobs a month. for someone to say this is good, it is not. i have been out of work for three years. i am not looking for a job until we get a new president. it is sad that you can sit there and say there are 184,000 jobs or whatever was created. to make, that is not good at all. that is just maintaining something.

we have got to create jobs. i do not think this president has a clue on how to create a job. host: i think the message will hear today is whatever improvement we say, it is not good enough. on that one thing, both candidates will agree. the arguments they will be making are more about who will make it better. will president obama continue to see improvement in the labor market? he has a case to the made based on what we are seeing and the recovery, after coming out of such a tremendous downturn, we are seeing a steady improvement. more importantly, when you look at a downturn likely -- like the one we had based on a loss of credit in 2008, 2009 -- people could not get loans. people still cannot get loans for cars, businesses. when you look at factor, when you have credit pulled back so

tremendously, and when you have such a huge household debt load across the economy, people have a large credit card bills, very large personal debt bills, that is quite to hold back the recovery. and take it least four or five years to work for that itself. the matter who wins on tuesday, the economy will probably improve at a faster pace because we have worked on some of the excess and broken down some of the debt on household balance sheets. host: the last caller said he'd given up looking for a job at least for now. talk about how those folks who of given up play into these numbers. guest: that is an important point. so many people in prior months had been dropping out of the labor force. we actually saw the unemployment rate went up .10%. and you might see how we see an improvement what the unemployment rate went up? reeser two separate reports.

one the payroll numbers measures, based on a survey of businesses, and that is based on their payrolls. and the jobless rate is based on a survey of households. when you look at the jobless rate, what we are finding in its latest survey, more people can back into the labor force. we might have seen earlier signs of improvement and then started looking for work again. the big risk is that people who have been waiting for a long time to find their way back into the labor force and back into a job, they choose to give ok'd, and step out of the labor force -- they choose to give up and step out of the labor force. you need people to stay in can accumulate new skills. in this case, the most troubling factor in it this report, and most of the reports we have seen is the number of long-term unemployed. that 5 million people.

once people have been out of work for six months or more it becomes a lot harder to go and find a job because you have been out there and your skills degrade, and you lose the opportunity to get out in front of employers. host: on twitter -- i am waiting for romney plans. we will go to jacksonville, n.c. on our line for independents, sheila is waiting to talk to sudeep reddy. caller: good morning. i was calling about the jobs report. i think the economy is getting better. but this takes time. i know a lot of people do that have time. but people need to kind of a be a little more patient. you know, because i think the republicans do not want to see the economy get better right now. and mitt romney said he will create 12 million jobs.

he has not said how he will do that. and i think obama is more for the middle class. thank you. guest: the interesting number that the caller put out there, 12 million jobs, that is what governor romney has said he would create. that is fairly close to some of the baseline estimates of what a lot of the comments -- the figure that the congressional budget office has put out of what should be created. next quarter years regardless of who is president. it is an interesting baseline to use. we will need to see more than not likely to bring us back to where we were before the recession, with the unemployment rate of 5%. host: on our line for democrats, chuck, missouri. caller: jefferson city is a capital city. the obstructionism of the

republican congress -- especially with infrastructure and the jobs program, of like to ask, a jobs this kept us from having. plus the state capitals, you did not bring up a stimulus program, because you knew the republicans there would nail it down and knock it down. these -- this nepotisthis seemsw our growth. guest: it seems republicans have stood in front of the latest package that president obama pitched. the american jobs act. most private-sector economists would say that package, if it were enacted, would produce more jobs, and help the recovery. there's a cost to that. but as one of the reasons republicans have been standing in front of it. the crux of the argument has been that the government stops

-- needs to stop trying to get in the way. you would lose a lot of important support from government programs. that have provided some stability for people that are out of work. it is really an open question whether businesses -- whether so-called job creators would come out in droves and start hiring if government were to

address many of these problems. the biggest issue for whoever is elected will be addressing the fiscal cliff. and how to deal with this short- term package of tax hikes and spending cuts. hiking taxes when the economy is weak could create trouble for the overall economy. and cutting government spending at all levels were to address many of these problems. the biggest issue for whoever is elected will be addressing the fiscal cliff. and how to deal with this short- term package of tax hikes and spending cuts. hiking taxes when the economy is weak could create trouble for the overall economy. and cutting government spending at all levels as a right to create more problems for the economy in the short run. any politician who tries to tell you that doing anything in the short run will produce these amazing benefits. there are likely try to pull a fast one on you. you need to lookthere are likela will do the most in the medium term and long term and hope this changes will produce signals for the near- term to produce job creation. host: on twitter -- if the economy would get better too bad, there would be a bubble. i feel sorry people without jobs. when other a tweet -- asking people to be patient after four years of this mess is offensive to me. any fear of where a next bubble might come from? guest: and is not clear. they have kept interest rates at zero. and a taken actions to keep them effectively below zero through

the bond buying program. when the fed has actions like that it creates the potential for investment to be spread around into areas that might create bobbles down the road. nobody actually knows the answer to this. -- might create bubbles down the road. nobody actually knows the answer to this. -- the economy is picking up so quickly that you will see a bubble right now. these are all issues for 5 to 10 years down the road that could be created. i think most people right now would strongly prefer to see much faster job growth that creates challenges in terms of dealing with inflation and dealing with potential macroeconomics defects like bubbles. host: we are speaking sudeep reddy to, "wall street journal" economics correspondent -- we are speaking to sudeep reddy,

"wall street journal" economics correspondent. host: next up, richard. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? i did want to say -- looking at the numbers, everything is doing great, fixing up. obama is doing a great job of running in it. and mitt romney is not for us. obama is and he is doing an excellent job. host: let let us go to sue on our line for republicans, you are on. caller: it is amazing the unemployment rate is almost 15% yet they still supported -- many have lost their jobs under this president.

and recent college graduates, do you think verdoorn to support them? my son has been out of a job for 2.5 years. he has been working since 15 years old. then he got a republican house and senate that started everything he was doing. they are just spending of money. and if people love them, they will get reelected. unemployment going up to 7.9%. i do not know how you can see that as a good thing. this president has no clue how to create jobs, he has never had one. he worked behind the lines of the enemy when he had a small job. we have to get the united states economy back. so many people are so desperate out there for jobs. it is a desperate time. host: a sentiment that is probably shared by many people

across the country. addressing the factual point in your question, or in your statement, the unemployment rate is incredibly high for black americans. it is 14.3% and the latest figures for october, for blacks. the white unemployment -- the hispanic rate is 10%. it is not seasonally adjusted. be careful with that number. and the unemployment rate for teenagers is 23.7%. incredible numbers for those coming out of high school and looking for work. people who are struggling to find some of the jobs that might be some of the lower paying jobs is incredibly difficult. on one other point, the transition between spending between president clinton and president bush, it is not accurate to say that spending

went down a under republicans. actually went up. the federal debt went up from 2001 to 2009. it has gone up considerably under president obama as well. and this shows that under the last two presidents, neither one has been able to address this problem of deficits. and the rising bottle debt. president clinton did produce a surplus at the end of this term because of that big boom in the late 1990's. host: i want to point up the romney-riot campaign released a statement from mitt romney this morning in relation to the jobs numbers. this a sad reminder that the economy is at a virtual standstill. the jobless rate is higher when president obama took office. and there are still 23 million americans struggling for work. on tuesday, america will make a

choice between stagnation and prosperity. question on twitter -- talk about the jobs report and relation to improvements in the housing sector. guest: that is a great question. we have seen, perhaps remarkably over the past few months, the obscene improvement in the housing sector, home sales have started -- we have seen improvement in the housing sector. we have seen people getting out there and buying homes at a faster pace. we are seeing prices picking up. after the six years of distress we have seen in the housing market, it could be a good sign. it is an important factor. throughout any downturn, one of the hopes for a recovery is that the fed will lower interest rates so much that people will get out there and start buying homes, get more mortgages, create the virtuous cycle that

you would see in the housing sector so that construction picks up and that can ripple through the rest of the economy. we have not seen that for much of this. we have seen a little blips like and 2009. -- alike in 2009. this may be one of the things said polls us out of the downturn we have seen. and that repels the recovery. partly because the fed has pushed mortgage rates down to around 3.5% . that is a historically low figure. if we work of some of the excess housing inventory, then you might actually see the housing sector provide a boost to the economy rather than producing little, if at all, a drag.

host: freddie. go ahead. caller: i remember back when ralph nader was running for president. ralph nader at that time wanted america, especially the republicans to not vote for those people -- [indiscernible] that is not going to happen. your job as. be sent overseas. what happened? white republicans vote for white republicans. and now white republicans are planning a black democratic president for their problems that they created. we do not have a job because they voted for the people who

sent our jobs overseas. and now they are getting ready to vote for a man who said the jobs overseas. how stupid can you be? guest: i think one of the figures, one of the things we have seen and trade over the past not just a decade, but two decades is a steady flow of jobs overseas. it has been particularly battered throughout the past decade. when you say economies open up, you see the rise of other economies around the world -- there provided cheaper labor and an opportunity for businesses to source their production it differently overseas. and that has been a fact of this. it is not necessarily under a single president. this is actually a free trade movement that has gone over the course of well over two decades. that is important because a lot of the manufacturing jobs come a lot of the lower and production

jobs are probably going to continue to move overseas. and the mission for the next president will be to figure out a way to improve the skill set of american workers and provide enough basis for education and skills training to help people get a higher end, higher skilled jobs here that could be created. and that will not be the same ones that were around two decades ago, because the policy has already been baked and to move a lot of those jobs overseas. host: on twitter -- what are the future prospects for jobs? well the sequester create any jobs or kill them? what about obama taxes? guest: we are seeing many events are the next few months with the fiscal cliff. -- over the next few months with the fiscal cliff. congress has created this problem, congress and the white

house together. were you have a tax hikes and spending cuts coming at the same time. and simple arithmetic will tell you that putting both of those together at the same time will undoubtedly create a recession. there's no way around that. when you look at confidence among businesses and consumers, it is still fairly depressed among businesses, picking up among consumers. the paul both groups and asked them what congress did nothing? it is fair to say that you would see a rapid withdrawal and support for consumers, with higher taxes, businesses would look at the affects of that answer to pull back themselves. this is a huge problem that if congress does not actually deal with this in a meaningful way in the next few months, and instead just tries to kick the grenade down the road and deal with this as markets force it to, you will not seek meaningful

improvement and the economy and the labor market. that is why coming up with a bart -- they are coming up with a bipartisan plan to produce a meaningful solution so that the budget problem, i do not think either side will be happy in the end with what comes out. but it is going to require cuts in spending and to some extent increases in taxes in the medium term. to do it all at once is. be a huge problem and will undo a lot of the progress we have seen. host: massachusetts, on our line for independents, gerald. caller: good morning. i just do not understand, how mitt romney can cut jobs when i know he cannot. -- how he can create 12 million

jobs when i know he cannot. you know he cannot. and if he cannot, it is only because all of these jobs that he promises are the same jobs that the republicans had so that they can make obama look bad and get a republican president and there. romney knows exactly what he is doing. he wants to be president. that is all he wants to be. he does not care if we get jobs or not. host: thank you. angie from new mexico, on our line for republicans, good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to ask you -- does that include seasonal jobs? and those jobs added -- hello? host: go ahead.

caller: is that enough to take people off food stamps and welfare? thank you. guest: the monthly payroll numbers do include seasonal jobs. you tend to see u toptick in certain areas -- an uptick in certain areas. it will not necessarily see a huge fluctuation in these numbers over a month to month basis on a seasonally adjusted set of numbers. if you are to see a much larger than usual in greece and seasonal jobs, for instance, retail jobs -- see a much larger than usual increase in seasonal jobs, for instance retail jobs. host: arizona, terrance. caller: when president obama took office, 800,000 jobs are

being declined every month. it has already been estimated that 12 million jobs will be created over the next few years. people need to wake up and realize that we do not need a president that can just create jobs. there are other things people are going through. people on food stamps because they do not have anything else. if you cut fema, everything will be devastated right now. there are plenty of other things. foreign policy is one of the main things. that made me decide on picking obama. we have more troops in syria and libya -- the country is going crazy. host: i will give you a chance

to jump and. guest: i will address food stamps. we have not in a meaningful enough improvement to pull a lot of people off of food stamps. pull people off of welfare. a lot of these support programs -- we need to see a much broader recovery to see improvement in that sense. when the most striking figures that comes out every month and this report -- if you looked at the breakdown of unemployment by education -- people -- the unemployment rate across the nation for people 16 and older, is 7.9%. people 25 years of age and older, the unemployment rate if you have a bachelor's degree or higher is 3.8%. it is still higher than it was, of course, before the downturn. but the 3.8% is substantially lower than the right across the economy. for someone who does not have a high-school diploma that did not

graduate from high school, the unemployment rate is 12.2%. that is if you have not graduated from high school. if you have a bachelor's degree or higher, it is 3.8%. it is the simplest of figures that comes out of this report. but it shows that, no matter what happens, you need people to get in the labor market by improving their skills, at least graduating high school. if you do have a high-school diploma, the unemployment rate drops down to 8.4%. 12.8% without it, 8.4% with it. these are obvious pictures that show that continuing your education can give you some benefits. until the systems of government across the country are set up to ensure that people are going through this throughout the

system, you are not going to see any full improvement for a lot of people at the lower end of the income spectrum. host: tell us what the fed does with these numbers when they come out each month. how does this play into their planning for try to continue this economic recovery. guest: but the fed is looking is a broad set of economic data. they want to look at not just the job numbers, but retail sales, overall growth in the economy, they want to look at business spending. all of these figures go into it. but chairman bernanke, the fed chairman has made it clear that his number one concern is the labor market. he wants to see some improvement in the labor market. what we have seen over the last two years, job gains on average around 155,000 jobs a month, it is not the kind of sustained improvement he is looking for. but the fed has done, it is already lowered interest rates near 0. back in late 2008.

and it has been doing a series of bond buying programs. it is on the third generation of that quantitative using qe3. the fed has launched in september an open ended up on a buying program to really push the pedal down on a stimulus to try to make sure that interest rates go as low as they possibly can to provide some benefits to, for instance, the housing market, and to businesses looking to borrow so they can invest in new jobs. so the fed will look at a number like this and say, this is the continued slow but steady improvement, but it is still not nearly enough for what they would need to see. you are starting to see a shift within the fed about what kind of matter to the would need to see to actually removed some of this extraordinary accommodation they provided for the economy. host: have they said what metrics they need? guest: the have not.